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Hi Folks - I bought my Bobber this morning after working my way through a shortlist of possible suspects - including the T120 and Street Scrambler. It's a red & silver model completely as stock at the moment. Browsing on here as a visitor helped as clearly you seem to like the bike, not that there's any bias of course.

I have a 2006 Honda CBF500 as well which is my all weather workhorse.

Looking forward to it arriving late next week, the day before our daughter's wedding so it probably won't get ridden for a couple of days :frown2:

I'm in Chester down by the river (where quite a few bikers meet up at the weekends), snag is I work Sundays 'cos I'm the local vicar so that kind of scuppers joining weekend ride outs.

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Hi Folks - I bought my Bobber this morning after working my way through a shortlist of possible suspects - including the T120 and Street Scrambler. It's a red & silver model completely as stock at the moment. Browsing on here as a visitor helped as clearly you seem to like the bike, not that there's any bias of course.

I have a 2006 Honda CBF500 as well which is my all weather workhorse.

Looking forward to it arriving late next week, the day before our daughter's wedding so it probably won't get ridden for a couple of days :frown2:

I'm in Chester down by the river (where quite a few bikers meet up at the weekends), snag is I work Sundays 'cos I'm the local vicar so that kind of scuppers joining weekend ride outs.

Welcome to the forum, Vicar! I'm a retired Army Chaplain so I don't have to work every Sunday. :laugh: This Sunday our pastor is taking the week off so I will be filling in for her. (That's not a problem because it will be too hot to ride anyway. :|)

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Welcome to the site! Congratulations on your new purchase, and on your daughters upcoming nuptials. If you care to elaborate, I'm curious as to what swayed you toward the Bobber vs the other bikes you were considering. Did it take a test ride to decide or was it something else? Also, do you have any changes to the bike planned yet?

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Welcome to the forum, Vicar! I'm a retired Army Chaplain so I don't have to work every Sunday. :laugh: This Sunday our pastor is taking the week off so I will be filling in for her. (That's not a problem because it will be too hot to ride anyway. :|)

Don't have to work every Sunday! 'Tis a harsh thing to say to a poor hardworking parson - even if I am currently on sabbatical leave for 3 months! :grin2:

When I was vicar of a parish in Warrington RAF Burtonwood was within my patch and I was appointed as chaplain to the US Army 47th Area Support Group. They paid me in US dollars which the good old Church of England then took off me again. But since my 'pay' was half in dollars and half sterling our income tax people said I was most awkward clergyman in the whole of the UK. Sadly the unit was moved and then I think discombobulated after the Gulf War.

Welcome to the site! Congratulations on your new purchase, and on your daughters upcoming nuptials. If you care to elaborate, I'm curious as to what swayed you toward the Bobber vs the other bikes you were considering. Did it take a test ride to decide or was it something else? Also, do you have any changes to the bike planned yet?

My longlist was too numerous to mention. The I got it down to the shortlist of the Street Scrambler, T120, Bobber and just for lunacy the Ducati Scrambler. The Ducati was out as soon as I sat on it. Horrible seat and when I checked a couple of used ones clear signs that small bits and pieces weren't holding up too well. I always look at unions and hidden bolts to see if they are showing signs of corrosion.

The T120 felt heavy and a bit lardy (yes I know the Bobber is heavier but it doesn't feel it) and at the end of the day I kind of felt it was trying to be something that wasn't quite me. Perhaps it was just a tad too sensible.

The Street Scrambler I liked even though I couldn't figure out why I liked it so much. It felt right and it handled right. But maybe it just wasn't different enough. The ride might have been somewhere between the Bobber and my more sensible daily ride. If I had had to have just one bike it would have been the Street Scrambler. But I am fortunate enough to be able to have two bikes, a working bike and a fun bike.

So the Bobber - well I sat on it. And I got off and looked down at it, surely it can't look like that and be so comfortable! So I sat on it again, and I chuckled to myself (by which stage the people in the dealership were getting a bit anxious). Then I gave it a bounce. And I booked a test ride. The bloke said - if you test ride that you'll come back with a grin on your face - and he was right.

The noise - oh, the noise. I live in a city centre and filtering through traffic is a daily chore. My Honda is great at squeezing through gaps but it's not got a brilliant soundtrack. The Bobber just carves a path through traffic. When I got stuck I just gave it a gentle blip and traffic parted like the Red Sea. It is a delight to trundle past and see the look on their faces when they realise they've just made way for a vicar on a bike.

I have no major changes planned at this stage - not least because I am now skint. However, wearing my Capt Sensible hat I'll probably install some bobbins for the paddock stands (I have a thing about chain maintenance and cleaning) and I am eyeing up a Dart flyscreen. Maybe Bobbers aren't meant to wear flyscreens but each to their own and I like them. I prefer to protect the instrument cluster from the worst of our lovely British weather - ir rain, rain and more rain. And then snow. My parents live about 40 miles away up a motorway so I spend a fair bit of time at motorway speeds. The Bobber was surprisingly happy at a steady 70mph but anything that makes cruising at speed less prone to collecting a million dead bugs has to be good. I think when I've saved up some pennies I might look at the back end as I'm not 100% sold on how it looks as standard - but I haven't seen anything that catches my eye and side mounted plates aren't allowed in the UK. Plod tends to take an interest in anything that suggests you've been naughty.

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Don't have to work every Sunday! 'Tis a harsh thing to say to a poor hardworking parson - even if I am currently on sabbatical leave for 3 months! :grin2:

When I was vicar of a parish in Warrington RAF Burtonwood was within my patch and I was appointed as chaplain to the US Army 47th Area Support Group. They paid me in US dollars which the good old Church of England then took off me again. But since my 'pay' was half in dollars and half sterling our income tax people said I was most awkward clergyman in the whole of the UK. Sadly the unit was moved and then I think discombobulated after the Gulf War.

Many years ago I rode on a train from Frankfurt, Germany to Berchtesgaden, Germany on my way to an Army Chaplain Conference. I happened to be in the same compartment as the British Chief of Army Chaplains. In those days you wore a tie when you traveled so I was wearing a tie that I picked up from a U.S. mail order store. It was a regimental tie. (At the time the U.S. Army did not have regiments. We do now.) He wanted to know why I was wearing a regimental tie and how I came by it. He seemed a little miffed. He got over it and became quite friendly as we talked. He told me that British Chaplains assume the rank of the person they are talking to. (I was a Captain at the time.) U.S. Chaplains just don't go by rank. I was never called by my rank the whole 37 years that I was in the Army.

I've traveled in Great Britain and the British Isles a number of times but I have not been in your area.

* * * * *​

I started thinking about it and I don't believe that I have ever ridden a bike to church. :| I'm not sure why that is. It will be raining tomorrow so I had better not risk it.

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I once rode my bike down the aisle with one of our teachers on the back during a Mothering Sunday sermon. It went fine until we got the end of the aisle only to find someone had added extra rows of chairs so it was too tight to turn. I ended up gassing the churchwarden with exhaust fumes.

The local kids thought it was good though.

I’ve taken the bike into school for them to explore during science lessons or draw as part of art. The best hoot was a rally to protect a medieval window that local yobs were vandalising. Over 200 bikes turned up which made the point, after that the vandalism stopped. Our older ladies made tea and buns by the score. When one of them set off home in her mobility scooter six guys on Harleys escorted her home like she was the Queen. She loved it.

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I once rode my bike down the aisle with one of our teachers on the back during a Mothering Sunday sermon. It went fine until we got the end of the aisle only to find someone had added extra rows of chairs so it was too tight to turn. I ended up gassing the churchwarden with exhaust fumes.

The local kids thought it was good though.

I’ve taken the bike into school for them to explore during science lessons or draw as part of art. The best hoot was a rally to protect a medieval window that local yobs were vandalising. Over 200 bikes turned up which made the point, after that the vandalism stopped. Our older ladies made tea and buns by the score. When one of them set off home in her mobility scooter six guys on Harleys escorted her home like she was the Queen. She loved it.

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The only reason why I didn't buy it the year it came out was that, while I loved the design, I just couldn't see ruining the looks of it by putting a windshield on it. However, upon test riding it (while my T100 was being serviced), I realized that I didn't need a windshield since my center of gravity was so low. Plus, in all my years, I'd never ridden any motorcycle like the Bobber.

Other than a brass-looking gas cap, I haven't modified mine, being still pleased with its stock appearance after a year of ownership (which is most unlike me).

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The only reason why I didn't buy it the year it came out was that, while I loved the design, I just couldn't see ruining the looks of it by putting a windshield on it. However, upon test riding it (while my T100 was being serviced), I realized that I didn't need a windshield since my center of gravity was so low. Plus, in all my years, I'd never ridden any motorcycle like the Bobber.

Other than a brass-looking gas cap, I haven't modified mine, being still pleased with its stock appearance after a year of ownership (which is most unlike me).

I think you might be right. I do like flyscreens, just tiny ones to protect the instrument cluster (I hate seeing crud and bugs splattered in that area which is a pain to clean) - but I'll certainly ride mine without a screen to see how that goes. The Dart screen doesn't look too bad to be fair, but the minimalist look is easy to ruin.

It is also a bit annoying that the same screen that costs £114 for the Bobber costs less than half that with universal fittings - but that fitting won't attach to the Bobber so you're paying a good £60 for two bits of plastic!

Ah yes - less of the power ranger brigade out midweek. One advantage of living in Chester is that N Wales is literally just down the road. I was over Abergele way on the Honda last week, only took me about half an hour to get there. My parents live in Crosby so I'm up that way quite often, at least the Tunnel and Runcorn bridge are free on bikes.

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I think you might be right. I do like flyscreens, just tiny ones to protect the instrument cluster (I hate seeing crud and bugs splattered in that area which is a pain to clean) - but I'll certainly ride mine without a screen to see how that goes. The Dart screen doesn't look too bad to be fair, but the minimalist look is easy to ruin.

I went for the small Dart Piranha flyscreen because of that reason, and took it off after 5 painful kilometers. It redirects the airflow directly at the helmet and made mine so loud that it got real bad from 60 km/h upwards and was not bearable at normal cruising speeds.
Since I have tried stretching/ducking etc and it did not help, I cannot believe others don't have the problem with the Bobber and this specific flyscreen. The only way to get to a comfortable noise level was leaning sideways as far as I could, which is not practical of course. Maybe the larger Dart Classic screen is better in this respect since other people here seem to use it without issues - but it's too large for me (looks).

The Bobber really is not that bad without flyscreen and I hadn't really bought the Piranha flyscreen for wind protection, but because of looks and cleaning purposes as you say.

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Ah yes - less of the power ranger brigade out midweek. One advantage of living in Chester is that N Wales is literally just down the road. I was over Abergele way on the Honda last week, only took me about half an hour to get there. My parents live in Crosby so I'm up that way quite often, at least the Tunnel and Runcorn bridge are free on bikes.

My parents live in Abergele so I’m up there quite a lot got my bobber from woods bought my last few bikes from them and always looked after me some nice roads to ride up that way normally head over to ponderosa or Bala if your ever out that way give me a shout maybe meet up for a brew

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